Viewfinder blurred with tears
Yoshito Matsushige, 32, staff photographer at the Chugoku Shimbun and member ofthe Imperial Japanese Armyʼs Chugoku District Military Headquarters news team
Manga created by Naoko Kubo, Yuki Kigi, Kayo Sakai

Morning of August 6, 1945
A member of the news team in the Imperial Japanese Armyʼs Chugoku District
Military Headquarters. After an air raid warning sounded the previous night, herushed to the headquarters, located on the grounds of Hiroshima Castle, andthereafter remained on standby.
(Hiroshima Castle)“Phew, I can finally go home…”Iʼll go home and have some breakfast…
“The sky is so blue, itʼs hard to believe weʼre at war.”(Mr. Matsushigeʼs combined home and barbershop, in the area of Midori-machi (nowNishimidori-machi, in Minami Ward) in Hiroshima City, 2.8 kilometers fromhypocenter)“Iʼm home. Could I get some breakfast.”“That tasted good.”“You donʼt have time to relax, do you?”“Iʼve got to get back to work.”“Have to hurry up…”
(Chugoku District Military Headquarters were established on the grounds ofHiroshima Castle in June 1945, with the aim of strengthening the defense system
on Japanʼs mainland. The military administrative agency had taken over authority
from the Hiroshima Divisional District Headquarters and was responsible for issuing
air-raid warnings for numerous areas in Japanʼs Chugoku region.)8:15 a.m.
Flash”Weʼve been bombed….”
Boooooom!
“Sumie, are you there?”“Hurry, letʼs get out of here!”“Oh my!”“I guess a bomb dropped nearby… wow!”“What happened?” “I donʼt know…” “But, seems like it was something terrible.”“Whereʼs my camera?”“Iʼm going to go to the headquarters or the newspaper…”“Iʼm sure Iʼll at least learn what happened.”I crossed Miyuki Bridge in my neighborhood and headed to the center of the city.
“Itʼs surprising such a stout stone railing was knocked over.”“Where on earth was the bomb dropped?”
The damage to buildings gets worse as I go along!
(Miyuki Bridge: Miyuki Bridge measures 162 meters in length by 22 meters in width.
In the aftermath of the atomic bombing, many citizens fled by crossing over thisbridge. The bridge, over which streetcars run, was fully replaced in 1990.)

“Give me water, please.” “Iʼm in pain.” “Help me.” “Iʼm hot.”This is terrible…
Smoke is rising here and there. Everythingʼs on fire. The city is going up in flames.
Iʼve got to move on…

With fires spreading instantly, I made my way by sneaking through gaps between theflames.
”Itʼs so hot...” I canʼt go on. Iʼll go that way.
“Wow...”
This way isnʼt any good, either... A shame, but returning home is my only option…
Whatʼs going to happen to Hiroshima?

I headed back to the west end of Miyuki Bridge.
“People have fled here. They look to be in such pain.”“Mobilized students are here, too….”
Thatʼs right…I must take photos…
(Student mobilization:Starting in May 1944, the mobilization of students throughout
the year to munitions factories and other workplaces was implemented on a fullscale in Hiroshima Prefecture. In July 1945, Hiroshima City began the sixth of aseries of projects involving the outdoor work of demolishing buildings to create firelanes, mobilizing more than 9,000 students, mainly in their first or second year ofjunior high school. Including those who died at munitions plants, the number ofmobilized students killed in the atomic bombing amounted to about 7,200.)

“What a cruel thing they did.”
I simple canʼt take photos….
I would feel terrible.
Itʼs impossible.
Nonetheless…

“Only photos can convey this living hell.”I have to take photos.
“Let your mind go blank and quickly snap the shutter.”Press…
Click(Shortly after 11:00 a.m., tragic situation at the west end of Miyuki Bridge, locatedabout 2.2 kilometers from the hypocenter)
Everyone, please forgive me.

“Damn, the cameraʼs viewfinder is blurred from my own tears.”“I canʼt see anything in front of the camera.”(Shortly after 11:00 a.m., tragic situation at the west end of Miyuki Bridge, locatedabout 2.2 kilometers from the hypocenter)I was unable to take any more photos, so I returned home.

(About 2:00 p.m., at Mr. Matsushigeʼs combined home and barbershop in the area ofMidori-machi)
Click“Did you find out what happened?”“No, with the raging fires I couldnʼt get into the city center.”(Around 2:00 p.m., at the destroyed Minami branch office of the West Fire Station,
located to the east of Mr. Matsushigeʼs barbershop)“I saw countless people lying on the ground.”“Are you wounded?”“No…I want to try again to make it to the newspaper.”Chugoku Shimbun company headquarters in Kaminagarekawa-cho (present-dayEbisu- cho, in Hiroshimaʼs Naka Ward)“Help me” “Give me water” “Mom…” “Hey”“This is horrific.”“Even the streetcars have been incinerated.”“Oh my…”
One hundred eight of the 123 streetcars running through the delta that makes up
Hiroshima were damaged in the atomic bombing. Many passengers died on thestreetcars, as well as a total of 185 people, including students from Hiroshima
Kasei Girlsʼ Schools working as crew members at that time. Nevertheless, threedays after the bombing, the streetcars resumed operations between the Koi andformer Tenma-cho stops.

“Everyone is dead.”“Cruel….”“I donʼt know where to look.”
I donʼt feel at all like snapping the shutter.
“I feel so distressed.” I wasnʼt able to take a single photo in the city center.

If I hadnʼt returned home this morning, I wouldnʼt have survived.
Ultimately, I was only able to take five photos that day.
(After 4:00 p.m., to the south of the “Minami-machi 3-chome” streetcar stop in frontof the Hiroshima District Monopoly Bureau (the stop is now called “Minami-machi 6chome”)
In late August, at the newspaperʼs temporary factory in the village of Nukushina(present-day Nukushina, Higashi Ward), on the outskirts of Hiroshima City
An air-raid shelter was used as a dark room for developing film.
Iʼm finally done developing the photos.
(At a farm in the village of Nukushina, where a rotary press had been taken before
the atomic bombing, employees worked to resume the Chugoku Shimbunʼs
independent publication of the paper.)On September 19, 1945, the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Allied Forces
initiated a press code for Japan, censoring media reports about damage from theatomic bombing.
Amid such a situation, the following year on July 6, 1946, the Yukan Hiroshima, alocal evening newspaper issued by the Chugoku Shimbun through the services ofanother newspaper company, introduced for the first time the only photos
documenting the horrific situation suffered by people due to the atomic bombingthat day.
(A photograph of the mushroom cloud appearing in the Yukan Hiroshima at the sametime was taken by Seiso Yamada (then 17), who worked for the planning division at
the Chugoku Shimbun and after the war became a staff writer for the companyʼssports division. The photo was taken from Mikumari Gorge (in the town ofFuchu-cho), located about six kilometers from the hypocenter. It is estimated to havebeen taken about two minutes after the A-bomb explosion. The photo is considered
to be the earliest of any taken of the mushroom cloud from ground level.)